Going Banana's for Cancer Support Community

 The Cancer Support Community-Benjamin Center in west Los Angeles provides support groups, stress reduction classes, individual counseling, educational workshops, and social activities for people with cancer & caregivers - all free of charge! 


When my Mom was diagnosed with Cancer in August of 2009, I was an active member of the community participating in the caregivers's support group along with other programs. When my Mom died, 9 months later, I spent the following year processing through her death as a member of the bereavement group. Both groups proved to be invaluable to me. Two years later,  I am privileged to return to the community as an MFT Trainee, now co-faciliting support groups. 


So how do we go from a chapter in my book of life to bananas????? Often times, people will drop off fresh fruits or flowers at the community. This week some generous person dropped off a huge case of bananas. Just before I was getting ready to leave, I heard a community member say, "I wish someone could make banana bread out of these bananas".  It was music to my ears so I found my favorite banana bread recipe and have been going banana's all morning.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas and walnuts until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

All Dressed Up!

Coming back and cooking too!

So I have been gone for over a year and every month I say, "i'm gonna start blogging again"and then i never do. Not sure why but not going worry about it. I have ventured into the world of cooking and I have to say, I like it way more than I thought I would. What I love about baking is how precise and beautiful sweet treats are. What scared me about cooking is the lack of precision and structure. Looking at it from a psychological standpoint, it was lack of structure that scared me most about life. I suppose, wisdom and maturity married to letting go and trusting allowed me to release the fear and thus embrace the spontaneous artfulness of living and thus cooking!!

Here is an AMAZING summer salad to get back into the blogging of things!! We first had this salad while on a ski trip to Sun Valley. A special thanks to Uncle Bill and John for this yumminess.

2 Cups Fresh Spinach (washed and dried)
2 Cups Arugula
2-3 Fresh Avocado
4-5 Cuties
Brianna's HOney Mustard Dijon Dressing

I usually don't like honey mustard dressing but this one is worth trying with this salad!!!
1. Clean and dry the greens.
2. Slice the avocado into large chucks on top of the greens
3. Peel the cuties and top the salad with them
4. dress the salad. You can use any dressing you like.

Sun Valley 2012